A TV receiver of an extremely thin thickness, such as one employing a liquid crystal display (LCD) or a plasma display panel (PDP), has been developed and put to practical use to take the place of a TV receiver employing a cathode ray tube (CRT) which has long been used since the start of TV broadcasting. In particular, a color liquid crystal display apparatus employing a color liquid crystal display panel is expected to become popular at a high pace because it permits driving with low power consumption and the large-sized color liquid crystal display panel has become less expensive.
As for the color liquid crystal display apparatus, the backlight system, in which a transmissive color liquid crystal display panel is illuminated from its backside with a backlight device to display a color picture, is in the mainstream. The light source preferentially used for the backlight device, are CCFLs (Cold Cathode Fluorescent Lamps), emitting white light using fluorescent tubes.
Since the CCFL is a fluorescent tube, charged with mercury, it may be hazardous to environment. For this reason, a demand is raised for a light source which will take the place of the CCFL. As the light source to take the place of the CCFL, a light emitting diode (LED) is felt to be promising. With the development of the blue LED, the light emitting diodes emitting light of three prime colors, namely red color light, green color light and blue color light, are now in order. With the use of the light emitting diodes, color light beams displayed via color liquid crystal display panel become high in color purity. Hence, the color reproducing range may be expected to be as wide as a range prescribed by the NTSC system, or even wider.